In a landmark decision, UAE has increased the representation of Emirati women in the Federal National Council to 50 per cent from the coming Parliamentary term.

A decree passed by the UAE President has directed the doubling of the current percentage of women's representation in the Federal National Council from 22.5 per cent to 50 per cent in the coming parliamentary term.
 
The Emirati News Agency reported that the decision aims to rank the UAE in the top positions worldwide in terms of representation of women in parliament. This will enable the UAE women to achieve in a record time, what has been achieved by their counterparts globally in decades.

Last week the UAE Cabinet had adopted a new package of national legislative policies and initiatives to empower the Emirati women and make them partners in the country’s progress.

India is expected to receive a total remittance of $80 billion in 2018, said the latest edition of the World Bank's Migration and Development Brief, released on Saturday.

"Among major remittance recipients, India retains its top spot, with remittances expected to total $80 billion this year, followed by China ($67 billion), Mexico and the Philippines ($34 billion each), and Egypt ($26 billion)," the brief said.

"As global growth is projected to moderate, future remittances to low and middle-income countries are expected to grow moderately by 4 per cent to reach $549 billion in 2019. Global remittances are expected to grow 3.7 per cent to $715 billion in 2019."

Government has notified commonly used medical devices nebulizers, blood pressure monitors, digital thermometers and glucometers as drugs under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. It will enable the government to ensure their quality and performance. 

The Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) will regulate the import, manufacture and sale of these devices from January 2020.

 The DTAB, the country's highest drug advisory body, had approved the proposal to include them under the purview of the Drug law. Currently, only 23 medical devices are monitored for quality by the country's drug regulator. 

With four new devices being notified, 27 medical devices now fall under the definition of drugs under the Act. 

The Ministry of Tourism have formulated the guidelines for approval and reapproval of Online Travel Aggregators, OTA to ensure adequate safeguards against deficiency of service, alternate arrangements and punitive deterrence. 

The ministry said in a statement yesterday that the voluntary scheme is open to bonafide online travel aggregators to bring them on a common platform in the organized sector. 

The guidelines will be rolled out online by the end of this month. 

The Ministry will grant recognition as an approved OTA for five years, based on the inspection report and recommendations of a committee and approval of the chairman of The Hotel & Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee. 

Re-approval, thereafter, shall also be granted for five years after inspection conducted by a Committee of the same constitution.

The ministry said in order to engage with the OTAs constructively, it is imperative that a system is put in place with qualitative benchmarks to accredit them.

An OTA is an intermediary or an agent, selling travel products and services such as the airlines, car rental, cruise lines, Hotels or Accommodation, railways and vacation packages on behalf of suppliers using the internet as a medium. 

They establish an online market place and earn profits on the discounts commonly referred to as commission offered by the suppliers. 

The government on Thursday, said it had given its nod to develop a Rs 156 crore freight village in Varanasi adjoining the inland waterways terminal on river Ganga that will boost the logistics industry in the holy city.

"The Ministry of Shipping has approved the development of a Rs 156 crore freight village in Varanasi adjoining the Inland Waterways Terminal on River Ganga," the ministry said in a statement.

Stressing on improving healthcare, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu Friday said the government should aim to establish an AIIMS in every state headquarters. “One such institute is not enough to provide quality education and treatment at affordable rates. In the next five years, the aim of the government is to establish AIIMS in every state headquarters,” said Naidu.

Advertising
Addressing the 46th annual convocation of AIIMS Friday, Naidu emphasised on the need to promote indigenous manufacturing of medical equipment for treatment. He spoke about how India has become a hotspot for medical tourism, with people from many countries visiting for treatments ranging from liver transplant to knee replacement.

“We need to overcome this paradoxical situation by ensuring that treatment is affordable for all Indians. On one hand, India is making rapid development in medical tourism wherein foreign people are coming to our country for treatment, but many facilities are out of reach for local people. We should adopt the concept of ‘Make in India’ to promote state manufactured devices,” he said.

United Nations: Preeti Saran, a former senior Indian diplomat, has been elected unopposed to an Asia Pacific seat on the UN's Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR).

Saran was elected Wednesday to the CESCR for a term beginning on January 1, 2019 and expiring on December 31, 2022.

She has been elected by acclamation the 18-member committee of experts that monitors the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESR).

"Election by acclamation. Thanks to all our friends for electing by acclamation India's candidate Amb. Preeti Saran to @UN Committee on Economic Social & Cultural Rights for 4 year term starting on 1 January 2019," India's Ambassador to the UN Syed Akbaruddin tweeted.

Japan is set to effectively ban government purchases of telecommunications products from China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp over fears of intelligence leaks and cyber attacks, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Friday.

The government is expected to revise its internal rules on procurement as early as Monday. It is unlikely to name the two companies, to avoid aggravating China, but Huawei and ZTE are to be subject to the ban, the report said, citing a government source.

The report follows a decision by the United States this year to ban government purchases of Huawei gear.

U.S. intelligence agencies allege Huawei is linked to China’s government and that its equipment could contain “backdoors” for use by spies, although no evidence has been produced publicly and the firm has denied the claims.

In addition, Australia and New Zealand have blocked Huawei from building 5G networks, while Britain’s BT Group said on Wednesday it was removing Huawei’s equipment from the core of its existing 3G and 4G mobile operations and would not use the Chinese company in central parts of the next network.

The 26th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Mosque passed off peacefully in Uttar Pradesh Thursday with Hindu and Muslim organisations observing the day as “shaurya diwas” and “black day” respectively.

While the VHP and Bajrang Dal burst crackers and resolved to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya, Muslim outfits held protests to express grief over the incident. In Ayodhya, Mahant Suresh Das of Digambar Akhara said Ram temple is the biggest issue in front of the country.

“There are three courts -lower courts, high court and Supreme Court – but the people’s court is above these three courts. We must go to the peoples court, and convince the public for construction of Ram temple,” he said, while addressing the ‘Shaurya Sankalp Sabha’.

The Union Cabinet has approved the Agriculture Export Policy in line with the government's commitment to double farmer's income by 2022. 

Speaking to media in New Delhi after the meeting of the Cabinet on Thursday, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said, farmers will get the benefit of export opportunities through a stable trade policy regime. He said, the policy will remove export curbs on most organic and processed food. 

The Cabinet also approved the launch of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS). With a total outlay of 3660 crore rupees, 15 Technology Innovation Hubs, six Application Innovation Hubs and four Technology translation Research Hubs will be set up under National Mission. 


The Cabinet approved implementation of Shahpurkandi Dam on river Ravi in Punjab which helps in minimising some of the water of the River which at present are going waste downstream to Pakistan.